I'm still doing good on my 1GB SLI 460's... then again I have no need for AA and my resolution varies depending on whether I want high res IQ or high refresh rates on my CRT

People have to first define what it means to Max out a game. Does this include an overkill amount of Anti-aliasing and supersampling just cause the settings allow it?

There are a bunch of tweaks you can do to lower the amount of memory used to make sure you don't hit that vRAM wall (eg. Disabling Windows Aero). Know the features that chew up memory and alter accordingly. There will come the time where the sheer size of games will need the extra resources (with the advent of the ps4) but that up for speculation

Think of it like a POS GPU with a insane amount of VRAM. It's very much a marketing thing in most cases. A GT610 can't utilize a 2GB buffer but you can buy one with a 2GB buffer, it simply doesn't have enough GPU power to utilize that much VRAM.
Multiple GPUs can utilize more VRAM because they have more GPU power to utilize the extra VRAM.

I have a single 680 and a 1440p monitor, I've never run out of vram, there's the proof
I play very demanding games, Crysis 3, BF3, Skyrim etc. I run out of GPU power before I run out of vram.
If I had 2 680s it would probably be a different story. Then I would have enough GPU power to drive higher settings which would need more vram, which I don't have.
If that makes sense

I disagree. I'm running Hd6990 with 2gb Vram per gpu(correct me if i'm wrong). Nothing can slow down this card at 1080p with maxed out settings (with AA,MSAA,tessalation,Hi-Res textures and other stuff).

IPeople have to first define what it means to Max out a game. Does this include an overkill amount of Anti-aliasing and supersampling just cause the settings allow it?

^This ... but it's a two way street.

Overkill AA for the sake of it is probably asinine, but a fully texture-modded Skyrim wants more than 2gb VRAM @ 1080p, and that's not useless nor maxing out GPU power. Memory will become the first bottleneck on 2gb flagship cards or dual-card 2gb setups.

2gb is probably fine for reasonable settings in stock, unmodded games ... but there's nothing said so far to suggest that the limiting context is defined as unmodded.

Personally, for me, 2gb was pushing it @ 1080p on my old rig. Doable, but quickly losing headroom as I stacked on the mods. Heck, I got 2gb for ~720p HTPC gaming on my current rig, and am avoiding 1080p on it so I can crank the settings and texture mods and still have the GPU power necessary (in my self-ascribed size constraint of a MicroATX rig).

Incidentally, I don't really miss the extra resolution that much, and a low power, compact PC is kinda cool. Wish I had the money for that ultra-compact ASUS GTX670. Then I would comfortably 1080p it. My current GPU doesn't even have 2cm room to spare between the 6pin PCI cable and my HDD's. Perhaps next-gen options will be smaller and more powerful with more VRAM?

Disagree. I have a GTX 480 (had two) and 1.5GB is fairly more than enough for 90-95% of the games out there. there are tons of games that i am able to game and enjoy without worrying to hit the vram limit.
of course 2GB of vram is the "average" nowadays but that clearly is more than enough for 1080p gaming.

Disagree. I have a GTX 480 (had two) and 1.5GB is fairly more than enough for 90-95% of the games out there. there are tons of games that i am able to game and enjoy without worrying to hit the vram limit.
of course 2GB of vram is the "average" nowadays but that clearly is more than enough for 1080p gaming.

Crysis 3 and BF3 use up most of 2GB. Newer games will probably only use more. To be fair though, it is kind of down to the user. You can always lower textures, resolutions and AA. And it really does depend what people play. A Starcraft gamer doesn't need Titans 6GB for example.